Returning for its 22nd year to Waskesiu is the beloved Reel Rave International Film Festival, run by Twin Pine Cinema on Sept. 11 to Sept. 13.
The annual independent film event is set to feature another round of acclaimed international and Canadian features, documentaries, and comedies as well as intimate screenings and a question-and-answer panel with filmmakers.
Chris Astle, owner of Twin Pine Cinema, and his wife took over the theatre five seasons ago and explained the importance of continuing the tradition of the festival.
“It has quite a broad following. There are a lot of patrons every year that do let us know that they’ve been coming for years and years–some of them over a decade,” he said. “When we took over, we thought it was really important to continue the event. It brings in visitors to the Prince Albert National Park in the fall, which is important because our season isn’t very long.”
This year’s lineup of films range from documentaries, dramas, history, sci-fi, and comedy, featuring a total of seven films from various countries such as Brazil, Chile, Japan, Germany, Belgium, and more.
“The feedback in general is varied. It is an art film festival, so some of the films are quite different than what you’d see on the big screen in mainstream media,” said Astle. “If everybody’s happy about every film, I’m not sure that’s actually what we’re shooting for, because that’s pretty mainstream.”
Of the seven films are two Canadian premieres—Hail 85, a film about a 1985 tragedy at the European Cup, and The Incomer, a UK-based comedy film.
“We were able to find these two films that hadn’t been swallowed up by TIFF yet,” he said. “It was actually quite tough to do because TIFF, the Toronto International Film Festival, runs at the same time and kind of is the ‘big gorilla’ in the room and typically gets all the Canadian premieres. So we’re super excited to have that.”
He added that a film he expects Canadians to “resonate with” is Art of Adventure, a documentary about Canadian icons Robert Bateman and Bristol Foster.
“I think our audience is likely going to gravitate just based on the names. It’s a really interesting film for sure,” he said.
Alongside the screenings, Astle mentioned the director of Agatha’s Almanac, a biographical documentary about 90-year-old Agatha Bock, will be present to do a question-and-answer panel on the second day of the festival.
“We really want to drive those interactive elements because that’s something that you can’t get from streaming,” said Astle. “You can get a lot of content on your TV for free, but these interactive elements where you get to talk with a director, you get to see and talk to actors, you see and hear from people that some of these films are based on. You don’t get to see that on streaming platforms.”
The Reel Rave International Film Festival will take place from Sept. 11 to Sept. 13 in Waskesiu with tickets for sale on the Twin Pine Cinema, Waskeiu, and WaskSweets websites.
“It’s always a bit nerve-wracking because it’s a lot of planning—there’s a lot of logistics. But we feel good. We’re really happy about our picks. We’re just really looking forward to a great film fest,” said Astle.
